Meliora

mel-ee-OR-ah; mel-YOHR-ah
Latin, Cornish
"better; honey"

Meliora Origin and Meaning

The name Meliora is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "better; honey".

Unusual and lush Roman name adopted, improbably, by the Puritans.

The Cornish version, pronounced mel-YOHR-ah, has been in use since the 13th century.

Meliora Popularity

Meliora in Pop Culture

  • Mellyora
    character in Victoria Holt's novel "The Legend of the Seventh Virgin" set in Cornwall, counterpart to the heroine, Kerensa. ("I called her Melly to myself, just to rob her of a little dignity. Mellyora! It sounded so pretty when people said it. I have never heard that Mellyora meant anything.")
  • Melliora
    heroine,victim ("Damp not the fires thou hast rais'd with seeming Coiness! I know thou art mine...By Heaven, cry'd he: I will this Night be Master of my Wishes, no Matter what to Morrow may bring forth!") in Eliza Haywood's novel "Love in Excess; or, The Fatal Enquiry" (1719,20)
  • Meliora
    Motto for the University of Rochester, translated as "ever better"